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As the planet warms, scientists burn homes to figure out how to best protect them in wildfires
Researchers say wind-driven embers can breach homes in less than 3 minutes, helping guide fire-resistant building codes and homeowner defenses.
- The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety conducts controlled burns at its 100-acre site in Richburg, South Carolina, where researchers have set fire to 13 houses to study wildfire dynamics and test protective measures.
- Climate change is intensifying fire seasons across the United States, with wildfires burning more than 11,000 square miles annually from 2016 to 2025—2.6 times the average burn area of the 1980s.
- Researchers use a six-story wall of 105 fans to simulate high winds between 30 and 55 mph, pushing flames toward homes; once walls breach, combustible items erupt and shower burning embers that ignite new fires.
- Creating a 5-foot buffer zone free of flammable materials like pine straw and wooden fences provides essential defense, with Institute testing showing ignition-resistant walls and mesh-covered vents also protect homes.
- Fire prevention is becoming a commercial industry, with products like Safe Soss now available at major hardware chains—tools wildland firefighter Nicholai Allen developed after observing the 2018 Woolsey fire in California.
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19 Articles
Scientists burn to learn, torching homes in wildfire research
RICHBURG, S.C. — It took less than three minutes for wind-whipped flames to go from licking the side of the house to shattering a window and working under the eaves to burn everything inside. Weeks later, another house in the exact same spot was burning — again in the name of science.
·Portland, United States
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Associated Press News+17 Reposted by 17 other sources
As the planet warms, scientists burn homes to figure out how to best protect them in wildfires
Scientists are using controlled fires to study how to protect homes from wildfires. At a site in South Carolina, researchers burn down test houses to learn how different materials and designs can withstand flames.
·United States
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Total News Sources19
Leaning Left5Leaning Right2Center9Last UpdatedBias Distribution56% Center
Bias Distribution
- 56% of the sources are Center
56% Center
L 31%
C 56%
13%
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